sweethooch's Profile

You might check Costco again for bread flour (ask manager, call other locations in your radius), as at last some of them do carry it, 50# for something like $16. Hope you find it. (I'm in Mountain View, CA)

2# bag small avocados $2 -- have only had 2, but so far I agree with CyndiN that they ripen nicely, no duds

3# bag Fuji apples, small side of medium, they look better than apples often do at GO $4 (oops, I actually thought they were $1/lb)

Green Giant broccoli slaw 12 oz $1.49 -- I've been buying these for ages, love them. Broccoli stalks, carrot, red cabbage. (Trader Joe's bags are $1.89 I think, less carrot no cabbage, and the broccoli stalks are often more tough, like they do less trimming)

As I said -- steak salad, either the potato version linked in the intro paragraph or a more standard lettuce version with steak on top (carrot curls, red bell pepper, and avocado are good). It doesn't need anything like the amount of oil in the recipe; I use no more than 1/3 cup total (grapeseed, avocado, or walnut). It can be made with old/wrinkly grape or cherry tomatoes and lasts for weeks in the fridge.

2. Carrot-ginger-miso dressing, akin to the dressing found at many Japanese restaurants. Magical on avocado. For a non-lettuce salad, try a combo of avocado, garbanzo beans, green peas. For a lettuce salad, I've included roasted asparagus, snow peas, jicama, and salmon; all great. It takes more of the dressing than you'd think.

These are different approaches to preparation rather than specific ideas for recipes, but may be worthwhile. Sorry, I wrote the response and then re-read your actual question!

1) I'd get the book Ratio by Michael Ruhlman (library or purchase), and memorize as much as I could. It breaks recipes into basic formulas, by weight, for example bread dough = 5 parts flour, 3 parts water (+yeast and salt) biscuit = 3 parts flour, 1 part fat, 2 parts liquid cookie dough = 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, 3 parts flour(the order indicates the order ones works with the ingredient, memorization would be easier for me re-ordered, since I already know to cream the fat in sugar in cookies first)

An accomplished home cook should be able to tweak these ratios and add flavors to get desired results.

2) Maybe also a book about combinations of flavors, e.g. The Flavor Thesaurus, Niki Segnit. Look for the unusual combinations here to do well on challenges needing invention.

3) a fairly successful contestant on MasterChef Australia says she would think of a specific ingredient and list 20+ different ways to use it. Repeat ad nauseum for different ingredients to learn to think inventively, quickly.

$7.99 NV Quinta de Sonora Barrister's Port -- took a chance on this; I'm no port expert by any means, but I like it a lot -- quite sweet, rich-tasting, long(ish) finish. Notes of cherry and maybe chocolate?http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp...

$2.49 cracked freekeh (roasted green wheat) 1 lb, Delino brand (Turkey, freekeh is the only ingredient). I think I've eaten freekeh once, but have never made it. Any ideas for me?

$5/lb Screaming Dutchman smoked gouda (ends, but I got one with very little rind).

Budget option: D'Artagnan sells smallish odd-shaped trimmings as "foie gras cubes" on their website, $31/pound, shipped frozen. I had them very recently, and they were high quality, non-gristly pieces as shown in the picture. Need to sear very quickly as other posts have noted, but the yield loss seemed only a little greater than you get with slices. My only issue was that the pieces were not individually quick frozen (unlike slices), so you had to thaw the block some to pry pieces loose, and due to the size it's better to sear while mostly frozen; a bit of a catch-22.

If you go the squash route, I would do delicata -- it's really pretty, and you can eat the skin. Halve lengthwise and scrape out the seeds, cut into half-moons, roast with EVOO, S&P, and maybe some ground coriander. Grate lemon zest over the top just before serving (really, don't skip this!). If your leeks weren't so rich, I'd also add a bit of goat cheese (doesn't take much, maybe do it anyway).

Acme is also sold at two Mountain View markets, Ava's on Castro Street and the Milk Pail at the corner or California Street and San Antonio Road. (Note that Acme has a bakery in MV, so it's not being trucked down from SF or Berkeley.)

Yes, absolutely! Sell-by does not equal consume-by. I would go months beyond that without hesitation if I somehow lost it in the drawer. Dates are there because they have to put something. It's a cured meat, it's fine. Enjoy!

Yes, I should have reported that it was my second batch and I did like it a lot the first time I made it. Second batch I did in the crockpot rather than a skillet, used onion rather than shallot, and cut the butter down quite a bit -- lo and behold it wasn't as tasty; my fault rather than the recipe's. Deglazing with wine is a good idea!

Thanks to all for the thoughtful replies! I went most of the way down greygarious' path with the italian sausage, aromatics, and mixture of cheeses, but skipped the crostini (due to the issues of packing for travel and table space). I put the mixture in a covered casserole dish and heated it through, then topped with buttered crumbs and broiled briefly. Bundled it up in towels to keep it warm-ish; served it with bread and crackers. It went over very well. Thanks again for the help!

It's not terrifically exciting -- I would like to re-purpose it to take to an easter picnic tomorrow. I have a boatload of carmelized onion and roasted garlic (as separate items). I have eggs, spinach, homemade bread (2/3 whole wheat), milk, cream, broth etc., italian sausage, prosciutto. Cheeses: creamy blue, goat cheese, pepper jack, asiago, romano, manchego. I have about 2.5 hours to cook tomorrow morning (could shop if needed but needs to fit in the same time frame). Food will no longer be hot by the time I get to my destination, which is holding me back from bread pudding.

Do you know what these are? They are about the same size, color, and hardness as my brown lentils, but look sort of exploded and are much less smooth. The front and back are different, the "more exploded" and "less exploded" items you see in the picture. There were only 15-20 or so in the whole bag of lentils. Are they just mutants, or some other seed or pulse or what?

Trader Joe's orange muscat champagne vinegar, mixed 50-50 with walnut oil, a little dijon, salt (dried thyme optional). Because the vinegar is less acidic (and sweeter), it takes a lower ratio of oil than most vinaigrette. Substitute a different light/fruity vinegar if you don't have TJs.

I would do mini sticky toffee puddings (British-English definition of "pudding," not like a US pudding -- it's a cake made with finely chopped dates). It gets caramel sauce rather than frosting -- so good!